Sunday, October 3, 2010

The Failure

There was a still silence as it was dragged in, its hair bedraggled, its face haggard from the lack of sleep. Everyone stared at it accusingly, but with a smile on their faces.

“You are here, my dear one, because you have failed,” the Judge spoke gently, as if to a wayward child, but his smile was thin and hard. “You are here, because you have not done enough. Do you not think so?”

“But-but-..” it whispered.

“Silence,” he smiled at it again, but there was now a slight narrowing of his eyes. “I see that you do not agree. Very well,” he turned to the crowd. “You may speak against it.”

A woman stood up. Her clothes were immaculately clean and well-pressed, her hair neat and in order. Everything about her showed Perfection.

“The condemned,” she spoke gently. “It has not been what it should be. It has not been doing what is expected of it. It is expected to listen to me, to do as I ask, and it has not. It is not Perfect.” She sat down again smoothly.

“Indeed, it is as you have said.” exclaimed another man, who was as Perfect as Perfection. “Excuse my interruption, my honour, but it has not met up to what I’ve come to expect it to be. It is not what I desire it to be. It has not been in absolute Perfection. It has not lived up to the demands of our nation. I’m afraid it has committed treason.”

“So I see.” The Judge nodded calmly. “It has truly gone out of line. Nevertheless, we will hear more.” He nodded once more.

“It has not done what has been required of it.” Yet another lady said as she stood. “We are who we are, for we do what we should do. It has not done so. It has failed in its responsibilities that I’ve given it. It has not been a success. It has not been what it has been desired to be. My requirement is to speak of it this way – it is not part of our Perfection.”

The Judge nodded again, and many nodded along with him, their heads in perfect unison. They turned to the pathetic creature again.

“You have failed. You have been expected of things, and you have not fulfilled them. You have broken the law-you have not done what is required of you. You have not been what we are. You are therefore, a traitor. You are not Perfect.” The Judge announced with solemn dignity.

“You have now two choices- be Perfect, or cease to be.”

“That is your sentence. That is what is required of you. Decide, and fulfill your requirement. With this, you shall prove to be Perfect.”

It gave a low cry, and stood.

“What is it that you want from ME? I gave you the best I have. You-you-you-” it pointed an arm out at those who had spoken, their perfect faces flinched and glared, “You all want something from me. You all want me to be someone else, to be Perfect. Can’t I be myself? Can’t I be given the chance to be who I am?”

The people stared in shock. The silence was deafening, accusing. No one knew what to say. No one, except it.

“I am falsely accused! You who sit there, absolute Perfection, are nothing more but a clone! You are nothing, you are only what is required of you. You are not yourself. What about the expectations you have towards yourself? Have you fulfilled that? I can see you haven’t! You are Failures too then, for you have failed yourself. Selfish, selfish ones! You only want your expectations to be met. What of my expectations? What of my requirements towards you?”

“You are in no position to speak of your expectations, Failure,” spat the Judge, his face an angry mask, exactly like the sea of faces surrounding the condemned. “We have our requirements to fulfill, and we have done so perfectly. YOU have failed. Your expectations do not matter.”

“Oh, and will it matter?” laughed the Failure hysterically. “It will never matter, even if I become Perfect. Hypocrites, that’s what you are. You expect of others, but you are not perfect yourselves. You sit here, staring at me as if I’m an alien, but I tell you, WE-ARE-THE-SAME. That frightens you, doesn’t it?” it laughed again, then groaned as a stone grazed its ear.

“You FAILURE! There are many more of these vermin around!” screamed the man who threw it from the crowd, his face twisted into a monster’s. “There are Failures, Failures everywhere! This liar is one of them! How dare it speak against us! How dare it judge us, it who has Failed! We must fulfill our requirements, to ensure that we have no Failures, like this worm!”

“Tell me, my fellow Failure,” it said coldly. “My people whom were once like you, before your ‘requirements’ were to rule us, who stood here as I have, did they not expect something from YOU? Have you met that requirement? It is only because of your new Laws, that you can stand there and judge me. Your Laws are a lie to yourselves. The requirement that you have set for yourselves are only to oppress. You have failed OUR requirements. You have not met OUR desires. We desire nothing, nothing but to be ourselves. Why should we live in your cold ‘Perfection’? You have robbed it of what it should be, Failure.”

The crowd howled at it in rage and fury, the noise breaking like a tidal wave. Their faces turned into the dark, their perfect features marred by their anger. They screamed at it, shook their fists at it. The hate on their face was clear for all to see. They rushed forward and struck it. They clamored over it as hungry dogs over a dry bone. And as they attacked it, it seemed though their faces were as haggard as its eyes, their hair and eyes as wild as it was. There seemed to be no difference.

They finally drew back from the condemned, their faces slowly returning to their normal Perfection, composed, triumphant.

The Judge rose from his seat. He looked at the still, bloody mess before him. Then he spoke, perfectly.

“The Failure has been condemned. It shall be heard of no more. It has never existed, it has never lived. Our Perfection remains.”

But they did not know that it, the Failure, lives on, in every one of their faces. Their Perfection had been taken away, by their on hand.

…honestly, I do not know what I mean here. Go figure. Then let me know. =)

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